This invention relates to a unique bulk material loading system having means for reducing the flow of dust into the environment caused during high volume loading procedures for granulated or powdered materials. With the advent of more stringent environmental controls, certain practices for high volume loading of bulk materials have had to be curtailed. Even where the material is benign, dispersal of air borne dust results in a degredation of the environment that in many areas is no longer tolerated. The use of hooded conveyors and slides, as well as sealed pneumatic systems, has substantially increased in recent years resulting in reduced emissions from these sources. While these systems are adequate for delivering the material to the discharge point, final discharge for storage or treatment has remained a problem.
In designing a vertical discharge system where bulk material is discharged into a ship hold, a rail car, or a storage pile, etc., the system must be flexible enough to handle a wide variety of grandular materials of varying size. In high volume systems, the equipment must be simple in design, yet able to withstand substantial abuse. The bulk material handling system of this invention comprises a vertical chute formed by a series of interconnected and partially nestled, open-end buckets. The buckets include an internal contoured inset that generates a venturi effect to draw air into the flow stream to prevent external environmental discharge of airborne dust. The insets are replaceable with other insets of different configuration to adapt the bucket system to the wide variety of materials encountered in a commercial bulk loading operation.